Family History
The Genealogy/Local History Room is located at the main library and contains materials of all types to assist you in your genealogical research.
The following materials are included in our collection:
- Shelby Star Newspaper on microfilm: 1902 – Present (~3 month delay in receiving microfilm)
- Cleveland County records on microfilm:
- Survey of Cleveland County Cemeteries
- deeds
- wills
- births
- voter records
- tax lists
- et cetera
- Family History Files
- Census Information
- Some records of Lincoln County, Rutherford County, and upper South Carolina
- Genealogy magazines and local publications
- Revolutionary and Civil War records
- City directories and phone books
The library also provides a limited search service for patrons who are looking to explore their heritage and aren’t quite sure where to start.
Our search service includes the following:
- Birth records
- Marriage records
- Census records
- Cemetery records
- Obituaries (must have the date of death)
We charge a flat fee of $5.00 per half hour spent searching, copying and mailing this information. This will cover the cost of copying up to 5 pages of information. Additional copies will cost $0.15 per page.
Please Note: Limitations in staffing and funding prevent us from doing extensive genealogical research. The library will spend up to one hour searching for requests for out of state or out of county residents.
For more information call:
Donna Bridges
704-487-9069 ext 142
dbridges@ccml.org
Here are some additional Internet resources to assist you in your search. Please keep in mind that some of these links are only available for free access from inside the library.
- NC Digital Heritage Center – A statewide program to digitize and publish historic materials online.
- The Kings Mountain Herald – Digitized microfilm of The Kings Mountain Herald made available through NC Digital Heritage Center.
- Mocavo and Findmypast – Research over 5 billion Ancestors for Free
- StoryCorps – An independent nonprofit project whose mission is to honor and celebrate one another’s lives through listening.
- Free Ancestry.com – In Library Use Only!
- RootsWeb – The oldest and largest free genealogy site.
- FreeBMD – Free civil registration index of births, marriages, and deaths.
- TheShipsList – Passenger lists and more.
- AfriGeneas – African American and African Ancestored Genealogy.
- Census Online – Contains links to federal censuses and indexes, state and territorial censuses, tax lists, voter lists, military pensioner lists, and international records.
- Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office Records – Provides live access to Federal land conveyance records for the Public Land States, including image access to more than five million Federal land title records issued between 1788 & the present.
- Ellis Island Passenger Arrivals – American Family Immigration History Center
- HeritageQuest Online – Is now available thru NC LIVE. A comprehensive treasury of American genealogical sources—rich in unique primary sources, local and family histories, convenient research guides, interactive census maps, and more.
- Broad River Genealogical Society
- GENUKI – UK & Ireland Genealogy.
- Cyndi’s List of Genealogy Sites – A comprehensive, categorized & cross-referenced list of links that point you to genealogical research sites online.
- Family Search – Discover your family history. Explore the world’s largest collection of free family trees, genealogy records & resources.
- Obituary Daily Times – Index of published obituaries.
- Find a Grave – World’s largest gravesite collection with over 170 million memorials.